Bearded Dragon

Trying to figure it out is a part of suffering. Been there, done that. You really don't need to figure anything out intellectually. For me I can see a tangible connection between dropping intellectualism and reduction of suffering (or freedom). This is why I prod people from time to time. It's not even about getting rid of stuff in your head. It's the pull that grabs people and draws them into their heads. Dropping intellectualism is like quitting smoking in a sense, because the effort is not in stopping smoking (akin to thoughts) but rather cutting that which pulls you in. Some smokers seem to be able to have a cigarette from time to time AFTER they've cut the addiction. There is nothing wrong with intelligent discussion, but I ask whether you're feeding the addiction or actually trying to achieve something. When I feel that a question is moot then I kind of have to presume you're just feeding the addiction. Wouldn't you?

What I feel in regards to rotation of the dantian has changed a bit since I last posted. Thought I'd mention it here if anyone is interested. I've been playing around with rotating the lower dantian vertically. If you go from the direction of the front, upwards, then down the back, then I feel that this has a corresponding effect with launching chi up the spine. If you do it the other direction the focus seems to shift from the back at the spine to the front. If you do both at once (which I only just tried as I'm typing this) then it seems to do both. Right at this moment I'm figuring that the dantian must rotate both ways (intentionally or unintentionally) if the MCO is opened properly.

What's the big deal about gaining/losing? Is it really important or are you just conditioned to think so?

You really want to feel as light as a feather. Usually you focus on sinking your chi into the ground for a while, then it naturally starts to open the channels for upward flow. The upward flow balances out the downward flow. So you go from feeling really heavy to feeling really light after it's balanced. I wouldn't worry too much about where it's coming from. Just sink your chi. All of it. This clears stagnation for further work, and it trains the channels to better handle the upward flow which can be quite disruptive if the downward flow is not developed first.

It's already the same thing, just going in different directions. Mission accomplished! Honestly, it doesn't seem like you know what you're trying to do. This is usually a recipe for wasting time unless it has a positive effect on your health as well.

Do you feel like it's the edge of your etheric field or something different?

Withdrawal and engagement are a pair that is applied to every situation together. It's not like you constantly want to abstain from one thing in order to engage in another. You can think like that if you want but that is not the main point. The idea is to be able to see clearly in every situation (hence the refinement of self, such that you become more equipped to do this) and know the right timing of when to engage and withdraw. Engage when it's the right time, and withdraw when nothing more is to be done. This is important because it happens allllllllll the time in every situation. The key is seeing, which is an embodied thing which is learned over time. Intellectual understanding is not required. When you see clearer you tend to make smarter choices. When you can explain something but can't see clearly then you often make dumb choices.

Try dropping it all the way under the ground. Feel for a point where it can't go further, relax that point, and allow it to bounce/rebound back up. Don't pull it up. Just allow it to come up.

That's a somewhat flawed understanding of karma. Karma is the crap that builds up within yourself which produces the undesired effects you're mentioning. What you've actually done is create your own karmic matrix based on a fear response related to nothing whatsoever. Forget about the karma of the universe or any garbage like that. Refine the self. That's all you should worry about. Sorry, but there is no profound understanding as you mentioned. Rather than refine the self you've just added energy to it, amplifying both the positive and negative. This reeks of kundalini. There is no shadow side and the real and false world are one and the same thing. Reality and delusion look the same. I would tell such a person to pull their head out of their butt and realise that they're just feeding themselves garbage that is making them unhappy. I would also tell them that their profound understanding is actually profound delusion. It's ok though. Seeing reality is as easy as turning over your hand. Really. What is needed is to drop the thoughts about it all because they're clearly constrictive, unproductive, and also completely irrational.

You're thinking too generally. It's impossible to work that way. Just do something more masculine. Martial arts, whatever. There is no magical yang energy you can gather from the air. No shortcuts.

Most people are just after bliss and happiness. It's sad. I saw a good account of that while watching a documentary by Louis Theroux where he went to India and discovered quite a number of spiritual practitioners who clearly had mental health issues. He didn't actually find anyone teaching anything of value in terms of real enlightenment. There will always be suffering on the level of body-mind no matter how enlightened you are. People just need to get over it.

I have one arm that's weaker than the other, yet I have never considered it to be an issue. People are like that. Maybe there just aren't any strong arms where you're looking. That's ok. You can learn from that experience.

Who is feeling this way? Surely not essence. Sounds like the dregs are going down kicking and screaming, no? No intellectual reasoning. You should know better at this stage. Keep going. It's not like you have any choice anyway, haha.

I feel it in the same manner that Bruce Frantzis' diagrams describe. In regards to the central channel that could mean a few things. The Zhongding or central equilibrium is the column through the middle of the body. The full central channel, however, encompasses an area extending out a fair way from the body. That is the whole channel. Not just the middle bit. In that sense the other channels are a part of the central channel. In a more basic manner you can get your spine going in order to feed the side channels. It's probably the easiest to start with, but you reaaaaaallly have to get it for it to have any noticeable effect on the side channels. I can only do it when I get set up by someone else.

It's kind of like if you want to perfectly describe Earth then you'd need an exact replica to perfectly describe it. We've already got one though. There's more to the Dao, so if you can't even perfectly put the wonderment of Earth into words then you've got no chance with the Dao. This is why experience > philosophy.

Consciousness is uncreated. It already contains all energy so you don't have to merge anything. What is actually meant by storing energy in this manner is actually just seeing potential and not acting. It's really a different ball game to what people typically think.

Nothing depends on tradition. It is as it is. I think what you're referring to is sometimes called the heart-mind. It seems to be the last stop before the end of the line, so to speak. In terms of actually tracing things back I guess your intent can't be followed further than that. What I was referring to was the heart of it all, or the center of it all. When you follow things back towards the source you find a lot of points that you're aware of, then you're aware that you're aware, then you're aware that you're aware of awareness, etc, then you realise that which you're trying to find actually can't be seen directly because if you see it then there is something ELSE that precedes it in order to be able to see. In other words you realise there is no point where it exists, because it's outside of the comprehension of the thinking mind. The main point that I want to get across is this.... *I'm aware that I'm typing *I'm aware that I'm aware of me typing *I'm aware that I'm aware of me being aware of me typing *I'm aware that I'm aware of me being aware of being aware of me typing This is an infinite traceback. If you keep looking you'll just get stuck in this endless loop of searching. Real spiritual seeking is when you have the balls to give up on seeking.

The spiritual heart or center has no location. How could it when it was never created to begin with? It only has a location if you're still giving it one.

It's a tool. Treat it as such. It still deserves a certain level of respect, but not nearly as much as it generally gets.

The one returns to Tao? The one has never gone anywhere nor will it ever go anywhere. When looking from the perspective of the one it's blatantly obvious that nothing sticks to it because there is nothing to stick to. It's not that hard. What used to make it difficult was all the theory which built all the concepts up to seem really distant and unobtainable.

There's always two sides of a coin. Typically it's when you don't care about either that you're free to choose one. Otherwise people typically get blindly stuck on one without seeing the other side. If you're talking about progress then I'd say just look from the outside.

I'll rewrite it for clarity... Host = Essence Guest = Being that will die "There is nothing the host can do because it does nothing, to free itself. It is already free." "There is nothing the guest can do to free the host, because the host is already free." "There is nothing the host can do to free the guest, because the host does nothing. It can watch though". "The guest can free the guest by alteration of it's neural structure. This is a decision, but the decision is inevitable therefore you could say that nothing can be done about it." That last point is important and deserves a little attention. The process of doing things for refinement is like setting up the scaffolding. You can do this much, then allow it all to collapse when things are ripe. Whether you're actually doing things or not depends on your perspective at that point in time. Therefore a statement such as the original one is rather unhelpful because the meaning differs depending on where you're at. The scaffolding can be altered in a detrimental manner if taken the wrong way.

I like Bruce Frantzis' system. It seems very complete.

Yeah. I'm like that. The difference is I'm not associated to it. You seem to be really strongly associated to this idea. Just drop it. Things are as you say, but your ideas about it are what causes the depressive ideas. The exact same situation can be seen in different ways. 1) As you mentioned 2) You have nothing to do and no reason, meaning that you're actually free to do aaaaannything. You're unbound and your canvas is blank (perhaps depressingly blank initially, until you see the possibilities). 3) Outside of both of these polarities you can sit and just enjoy the moment while "not doing anything". You'll find that your person is actually doing stuff but it doesn't actually feel like YOU are doing it. I sort of feel like this sometimes, then on occasion it really does just feel like I'm watching my body go about it's business. There is such peace in just going along. It's reaaaally nice. What you live for is the mystery from moment to moment. Everything feels fresh once everything starts to perpetuate in and of it's own. There is nothing to do, so you just stay with the moment. There is no reason to do anything, so you adapt impersonally to circumstances while going along.

I love how people throw in their opinions without actually asking what his goal is. Nice work.